1983 - His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Fujairah, inaugurated the Wadi Ham in Fujairah, the biggest dam complex constructed in the UAE. Saeed Al Raqabani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, said the main dam had a height of 16 metres and a width of 92 metres. The northern dam is 1,450 metres long and the southern dam 750 metres long. Shaikh Hamad cut the traditional ribbon at the site of Wadi Ham to mark the event. Raqabani said that the Wadi Ham had been built at a cost of Dh27 million over a period of 14 months. The dam is 2.8 kilometres long and the reservoir has a storage capacity of 10 million cubic metres of water annually.
1879 US President Rutherford Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
1898 US battleship Maine explodes in Havana harbour, Cuba, killing 260 seamen.
1894 France and Germany reach agreement on boundaries between French Congo and Cameroon
1933 US President-elect Franklin Roosevelt escapes an assassination attempt in Miami.
1942 British surrender colony of Singapore to Japanese forces during Second World War.
1964 Muhammad Ali becomes the world’s heavyweight boxing champion.
1965 Canada adopts its national flag, the red-and-white maple leaf design.
1990 Britain and Argentina restore diplomatic relations.
1972 Sound recordings are granted US federal copyright protection for the first time.
1973 US and Cuba sign agreement calling for prosecution or extradition of hijackers of airplanes and ships.
1983 UAE’s biggest dam is opened in Fujairah.
1989 The last Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan after a 10-year occupation.
1990 Britain and Argentina restore diplomatic relations.
1993 Two car bombs shatter a downtown district in Bogota, Colombia, killing four and injuring more than 120.
1994 A passenger train stampede in a crowded railway station and kills 43 people in Hengyang, China.
1995 At least 64 people are killed and 18 others injured when a fire gutted a two-story restaurant in the central Taiwan city of Taichung.
1998 American racing driver Dale Earnhardt wins the Daytona 500 on his 20th attempt.
1999 Abdullah Ocalan, a Kurdish rebel leader, is captured by Turkish commandos in Kenya.
2003 The final mission of Europe’s Ariane-4 rocket series places a telecommunications satellite into orbit.
2004 US administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, opens the nation’s first human rights ministry.
2007 First freehold apartment in Dubai registered in owner’s name.
2008 Czech President Vaclav Klaus, 66, wins a second five-year term when lawmakers chose him over a University of Michigan economics professor.
2010 Two trains collide and kill 12 passengers and injuring more in the suburbs of Belguim.
2011 An Italian judge orders prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on prostitution and abuse of power charges.
2013 A meteor travelling at a speed of at least 54,000 km/h strikes in the Chelyabinsk region in Russia and injures more than 1000 people.
2017 India successfully put a record 104 satellites from a single rocket into orbit.
